Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Embers
by IronChainDragon
Summary: Ace doesn't know how he got here. Given that the last thing he remembers is dying, he doesn't even want to know. He does want to know how to go back, however, because he wants to see his brother again. It doesn't quite work out that way. It could be worse, though. At least he can still use fire. Hopefully the Pokemon World doesn't end up burning to the ground. It probably will.
1. The Council of Legends

Daichi: Or, why you don't send a D into Mystery Dungeon and see what comes out the other side. Let alone... this world. Not based on any game in particular, but built purely for the sake of creating an adventure worthy of the... let's go with hero...'s middle initial. This is going to crash and burn so literally it will be glorious.

Verity: You can probably see why she doesn't own these things. She doesn't even bother trying to hide her own tendencies anymore.

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"Jirachi." The small Pokemon turned at the sound of his name. "You haven't been paying attention at all this meeting, have you?"

Jirachi laughed, trying to look away. "Sorry, Cresselia... I'll try and do better this time, really!"

The lunar Pokemon turned back to the meeting. "See that you do. We will be needing your powers for this, after all."

"But all I'm good for is wishes! And a wish can't fix this, all I ever do is cause apocalypses!" All by accident, of course, but the rest of the Council had never let him live it down. Likely they never would.

"It's you or Hoopa," Xerneas pointed out, and as one they all shuddered at the thought of the youngest of their number. He never showed up for meetings, was just as likely to trick you as help, and had a psychotic split personality. No, they wouldn't be relying on Hoopa anytime soon.

"What would I need to do?" He sighed, willing to admit to himself that this was necessary. If Palkia were still around, they could have just asked her, but as it was...

"It will be a joint effort between yourself, Xerneas, and Yveltal," Zygarde informed them. Technically, as the eldest remaining, it should have been Mesprit presiding, but she was currently an emotional wreck, and nowhere near the brilliant leader that Azelf would have been, or that Arceus was. So they had drawn lots, and Zygarde had been the winner.

Well, the green one. The Shiny one, one of the few Shinies amongst their number, sat to the side in his canine form, taking minutes. Just because it was possibly the end of the world was no reason to get sloppy.

"So what do we need to do?" Yveltal sighed. Jirachi already wasn't looking forward to this. The use of both the Legendaries of Life and Death was a sign that they'd be potentially dealing in necromancy, amongst other things.

"A long time ago, the Seven used to speak with their counterparts from other worlds- worlds like this, where Pokemon roam. But there are others in which Pokemon live alongside creatures called humans. And even more where no Pokemon exist, but that they could still see into," Zygarde rumbled. "Certain worlds with only Pokemon would, in times of great disaster, call humans from other worlds to assist them, turning them into Pokemon themselves. No matter what happened, the human would always succeed, even if they never meant to."

"But that's the Seven," Xerneas pointed out, her voice tinged with concern. "They're older than us, and infinitely more powerful, and all we have is Mesprit. How would the deities of this hypothetical other world react if we were to snatch a human away?"

"I think that's where I come in," Yveltal suggested. "Are you saying that instead of a living human, we take a soul that is already deceased?"

"But I don't want to be a necromancer!"Jirachi cried. The Shiny Zygarde reached over from his post to slap him. "Ow!"

"The necromancy will be my job," Yveltal reminded the younger Pokemon. "At least, the soul snatching part. You'll just be helping us send them to someplace away from us once Xerneas has tied them to a Pokemon body. Preferably unconscious. We're having a hard enough time staying hidden as it is."

"We should do it now," Magearna, the other remaining Shiny, suggested. "Cresselia? Darkrai? What do you think?" Both dreaming Pokemon nodded.

"It would be beneficial to the world to end this catastrophe as soon as possible, even if I disagree with the methods," Cresselia stated, before translating her partner's sign language. "Darkrai believes that taking an unwilling soul is just asking for trouble, although he doesn't see a problem so long as we're not the first ones they wake up to."

"We are agreed, then," the green Zygarde declared, looking over the decimated Council. "Jirachi, we wish for the soul of a dead human to be delivered here!"

It was still a bit too close to actual necromancy for Jirachi's taste, but he couldn't protest as his tags had already begun to glow.

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Today, Portgas D Ace decided, was not a good day. He was fine with the part where he'd died. He wasn't happy with all the trouble his family had gone through for his sake, but he could live with it- or not, as the point may be. He could even handle being resurrected.

What he couldn't handle was the fact that he was alone, in a place he didn't know. And that he was now a cat. That last bit especially. Worse, it seemed that he was a kitten. As in, small, weak, defenseless. All of which were things he couldn't let himself be, especially when lost in the wilderness.

"Someone up there must really hate me..." He mused, having noticed his transformation by tripping over his tail as he tried to stand up. He didn't know cats even came in that shade of red.

And, then, just a few minutes later, while he was still trying to figure out how his new body worked, his narcolepsy kicked in.

So perhaps Zygarde should have been a bit more specific...

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Daichi: For those that haven't caught on yet, Ace is now a Litten. A level 1 Litten. This will not be just a transplant, other One Piece elements will eventually come in... possibly culminating in, two years later, Hoopa opening a portal to Dressrosa and Sabo getting pounced on by a rightfully pissed Torracat. But that's a long ways off.

Tsukaimon: And, you know, it implies that he actually does end up bothering to save the Pokemon World. Or succeeds. Or ends up evolving. Or survives his first Dungeon. You left him level 1.


	2. Starting From Scratch

Daichi: There is something to be learned from this. Such as, don't randomly turn people into firecats. They don't always appreciate it.

Verity: We don't own these things... That's really a good thing, at this point... Help me I'm trapped with a bunch of crazies!

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When Ace woke up, his situation had not improved. He was still in the forest, he was still a cat, and he still had no idea how to use his new body.

He supposed he should have been grateful to even have a new body in the first place. But it could at least have been of the same species. Even without muscle memory, it would have been easier to figure out what to do if he were human.

Amongst other things, it meant he wouldn't have a tail to constantly trip over. But he kept trying, and eventually was taking shaky steps on his own four paws. Which meant he could do things.

Moving was a slow process. He had to be careful about where he put his tail, something that he hadn't even bothered trying to control yet. Maybe once he was back in civilization.

If there was civilization around. For all he knew, he could be anywhere.

...Almost anywhere. In any forest. It certainly wasn't one he recognized, although he was small now, and that might have had something to do with that. Or not, because he'd never seen a purple rat with a curly tail before.

The rat fixed its eyes on him before chittering and lunging forward. Without thinking, Ace swiped at the little creature- which didn't seem so little to him, but he was tiny- and knocked it away. It was a more natural movement than his clumsy attempts at walking, but it brought the question of where to put his paw back down.

His opponent seemed to notice this, tackling him in the side and knocking him down. Which meant that, if he got out of this encounter, he'd have to go through the irritation that was getting up again.

Not an if, really. Because even though he was no longer a Logia, there was still a warmth in his chest that had only ever come from a single source. Fire.

That it took the form of a breath attack was just something he was going to have to get used to, like everything else. Joy. At least it got the rat to run off.

Now, for the process of standing back up...

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Traversing the forest was much more difficult than it had to be. Due to his inability to control his tail and a lack of knowledge on where to put his paws, walking was hard. If anything attacked him, Ace had to default to burning them before they could knock him down.

It wasn't a perfect solution. He didn't have the complete control of fire that he used to, and had to be careful not to hit anything too flammable, while still knowing barely anything about how to be a cat. And everything was painfully slow.

It was the fruits along the path that made it bearable. The blue ones that made the ache of travelling fade, the red-and-yellow ones that restored his energy- specifically, the part that used fire, the purple ones that made him feel less sleepy, and the paler blue one that exploded in the face of the acorn that tackled him when he picked it. He decided against picking any more pale blue ones.

But progress was made, however slowly, and as the sun was low in the sky, he stumbled out of the woods, hungry and confused. Well, the whole... he'd go with day, but he wasn't really sure because narcolepsy, had been confusing, but the worst part was leaving the woods.

Mostly because the wide path behind him was not what that forest looked like when he left it. Actually, he wasn't sure when he'd left it. At one moment, he'd been stumbling through the trees, and the next, he was on an actual road.

Ace figured he didn't have anything to lose by following it. At this point, he'd take anything he could get.

Eventually, it happened, in the form of a pink egg-shapped blob with white feathers who was picking berries from the bushes at the side of the same road. She didn't move to attack him the moment she saw him like everything else did.

"Oh? A traveler? We don't get those often. Did you come from the Bleak Woods?"

"You mean that forest back there?" He asked, just to be sure.

"Yes, there aren't any other Mystery Dungeons in that direction," She confirmed. "I'm Yora, a nurse in Kaigara Village. Where do you come from? I've never seen a Litten around before."

Litten. Probably the name of the type of cat he'd become. He filed that away for later before turning his attention to her latest question.

"I'm not sure," He responded, because even if this was the same world as the one he'd lived in before- a possibility that diminished more and more by the second- that still didn't guarantee that he was on the correct planet. Or that anyone would believe him if he told them he was a human randomly brought back from the dead. "I just know that it's very far away."

Maybe he'd tell someone one day. Just to see how they'd react.

"You left home at a young age, then?" Yora suggested. "What brings you to Kaigara?" If only he had an answer to that. But he didn't. He didn't have anything. And that gave him an idea.

"I'm not sure," He stated, before starting in on his lie. "I don't remember much of anything. I know my name, that I'm not from here, and I can recall my family, but other than that..." There. Perfect excuse for not knowing anything important.

"Amnesia? That's pretty serious," The pink creature pointed out. "Why don't you come with me to my clinic, to make sure nothing else is wrong with you?"

Normally, he would have bristled at the thought of needing help. But he needed to be practical at the moment. Going with her would likely help him understand the place he'd ended up more, which would increase the odds of him someday finding a way to see Luffy again.

Besides, it meant he'd actually be able to get to the village. "That'd be nice. My name's Ace."

He thought she might have said something in return, but that was the point when he fell asleep again.

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"I'm telling you, I'm fine," Ace hissed out for the fifth time since he'd woken up in Yora's clinic. "It's not a big deal, it's just narcolepsy." And of all the things that could have followed him here... Everyone laughed when he said the universe had it out for him, but at this point he was pretty sure he had irrefutable proof.

"You can't recall the name of your hometown, but you know what your sleep disorder is?" Yora's apprentice, an odd plant with a red and blue rose for hands asked, his voice skeptical. Ace disliked him already.

"Barry, be nice," Yora called back. "And Ace, I know you may not think so, but falling asleep randomly like that can be an issue, especially if done in a Dungeon. Which is why you need to have Chesto Berries on paw at all times if you're not in a town."

It made sense. That didn't mean he had to like it. He'd gotten by without regulating his sleep perfectly fine thus far, even if he did sometimes fall asleep in the middle of battle and need someone else to bail him out... or fall over a railing... or almost drown in his soup... okay, he saw her point. And those purple berries were pretty tasty...

Okay, so he didn't really have a problem with her suggestion. But he would oppose it on principle, because that was what he did.

"You should listen to her," Barry stated. "She knows what she's doing, after all. Blissey are the best nurses in all of the world."

"Pay no attention to that," Yora chuckled. "I'm sure there are some Audino out there who could give me a run for my Poke. Barry, will your mother be by to pick you up soon?"

"Unless that Mari somehow managed to go a day without injuring herself on the job," The plant boy replied. "And she's just not any good at theatre."

The Blissey sighed. "Ace, would you mind glancing out the window? Tell me if you see a Roserade or a Popplio coming along the road." Not that he knew what either of those were.

He didn't need to. A larger masked form of Barry was fairly obvious, after all.

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Daichi: And thus, we arrive in the main town of the setting, Kaigara Village. It's a small coastal town on the mid-south area of the continent. We'll be meeting Ace's partner, Mari, in the next chapter.

Verity: Also known as the Popplio with an unimaginative name. That may or may not just be there to remind Ace to eat his Chesto Berries before he drops in the middle of a Monster House. Which has to be done, because he'll otherwise forget or ignore it.


	3. Ace and Mari

Daichi: So, it's time to properly meet Mari. Hopefully, she's interesting enough, since she's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Verity: We don't own these things.

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Once Ace told her what he saw, Yora turned and opened the door. "Why, hello, Hana. You're here for Barry, right? And what did little miss Mari do to hurt herself today?"

"She was helping us hang flowers from the rafters when she slipped and fell." The larger plant's voice was rather cool, but she gave the creature next to her a warm smile. "Isn't that right, Mari?"

Mari was a little blue seal with a pink nose and floppy ears with yellow ribbons tied to them. "That's right, Madame Roserade... Sorry I'm such a pain, Nurse Blissey..."

"It's not a problem at all. Come in, I already have another patient right now, but you can meet him while I speak with Hana."

"Okay!" The girl dashed into the clinic and ran right up to where Ace was sitting. "You're Nurse Blissey's patient, right? Are you a traveller? I've never seen you around before, and I know everyone that comes into town. I'm Mari! What's your name?"

"...Ace." He really hoped that she was just excited and not a female version of Luffy. One was enough, thank you very much, he did not need another living heart attack.

Mari tilted her head. "Ace? Like the playing card? Madame Roserade says I'm not allowed to play with the others, but I've learned that much!"

"...Yeah." Okay, this wasn't too bad. He just had to let her do all the talking and hope she didn't ask anything important. "Others?"

"The other members of the Roserade Theater, of course! I mostly do backstage stuff right now, 'cause I'm in a clumsy stage, but once I evolve, I'm going to have the world's best bubble show!" Her eyes took on an odd gleam as she finished. Ace privately wondered whether having the world's best bubble show would even be that much of an achievement, but decided against actually asking that question.

"That sounds like an... interesting dream," He ventured instead. "Bubble shows?"

"Yeah, they're an underappreciated art. But Madame Roserade says I can do it if I work hard enough. So that's what I'll do!" If only life could always be that simple.

"Making a new friend, Mari?" Neither of them had noticed the elder plant enter the room, followed closely by Yora.

"I'm not so sure about that," Barry interjected. "I mean, he hasn't told her much of anything, while she's just been running her mouth, as usual."

Yora sighed. "Barry, you're not going to get anywhere as a healer until you develop a proper bedside manner. And it's for the best that Mari and Ace get along, as I've finally figured out an easier way for your mother to pay the Popplio Tab." Mari glanced away sheepishly. "Ace doesn't have anyplace to go at the moment, so I was thinking he could stay at the theater for a while."

Ace looked up. "Don't I get any say in this?"

"You have amnesia, narcolepsy, no items or money to your name... need I go on?" Yora pointed out. "It doesn't have to be a permanent arrangement. Just until you've gotten back on your paws."

No. He'd accepted enough help from strangers today. "I wouldn't want to be a burden on anyone..."

"Nonsense," Madame Roserade spoke. "If you're worried about that, I'm sure we can find some sort of work for you to do. I won't allow anyone who needs help to go without it if I can possibly prevent it."

Ace got the feeling he wasn't going to win this one. But he felt he had to try. D stubbornness always worked, right?

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"Don't feel too bad," Mari consoled him as they walked through the village. "You lasted a whole fifteen minutes against the both of them combined. I can barely last five against one."

Kaigara Village was a nice enough place, all things considered. The air smelled faintly of the sea- always a plus in Ace's book- the dirt road was worn down from everyone who walked along it, the houses were covered in flowers and seashells, and the buildings containing various businesses all looked like the one who was in charge of it.

"I still don't like it," He muttered, pointedly not looking at the two plants that were walking with them. "Are we there yet?"

"It's just at the end of the road," Mari replied. "See over there? That big wooden building with the white roof? That's it."

Surprisingly enough, despite the trend set by the other buildings in town, the Roserade Theater did not actually look like Madame Roserade. It was easily the largest building in this part of the village, though the inn near the village entrance was apparently pretty close. The theater was a nice red-orange color with round windows and ivy stretching down the side.

There was a nice lawn, too, with a large hedge sculpture of Madame Roserade- made out of actual rosebushes, at that. Not a building that Ace would picture as a place that he would like to live in, but apparently he didn't have any choice in the matter.

"There's other Pokemon who work here as well," Madame Roserade said as she opened the door, "But they don't live here, and likely won't be here tomorrow, either."

"You're gathering more flowers from Mount Grace?" Barry asked. "I thought you said you had enough."

Now it was Mari's turn to not look at the ones ahead of them. "Yeah, well... See, I may or may not have kind of... sort of... landed in the basket and crushed them."

Barry sighed. "Of course you did..."

"I'll be preparing dinner now," Madame Roserade stated, perhaps sensing an argument about to brew. "Mari, why don't you show Ace to the spare room while you wait? He seems to be rather tired, and we won't be able to shop for Chesto Berries until tomorrow." Well, that was one way to explain away his difficulties walking. But he thought he was getting the hang of it.

"Okay. Come on, Ace, it's right this way!" Ace followed Mari up a set of spiral stairs in the corner.

The second floor was rather high up, but also much smaller, and not just vertically. There were only four rooms, two on each side. Mari pointed him over to the door closest to the stairs on the right.

"This'll be your new room from now on. Mine's just across the hall if you want me, and Madame Roserade sleeps in the room next to mine. Dinner will probably be in forty-five minutes or so, we have to go to bed once the sun's completely gone, and once it comes back up it's time for breakfast. Got it?" Ace didn't have a chance to answer, because Mari immediately turned and bounded back down the stairs.

Still, all things considered, today could have gone a lot worse. He just had to remind himself of that, and maybe it would actually be all right. Eventually.

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It was very quickly that the native residents of Roserade Theater learned that the best way to wake Ace up was with food. It was something discovered on accident, with Barry telling Mari that if the Litten wasn't going to wake up, that meant they could eat his breakfast.

Needless to say, that got him up almost immediately, and he quickly realized that his control over his body had improved because there was no way he could have attained that kind of speed yesterday.

He still ended up tripping and crashing into Barry and Mari, but it was an improvement. All he had to do was figure out how his tail worked, and then everything would be just fine. Well, besides the spot where a thorn scratched his paw. That was sort of painful.

At least until breakfast, where biting in to the sweet pink berry made it somehow stop hurting. Madame Roserade noticed this and turned to her son.

"Barry, have you been keeping your Poison Point active in the theater?"

"...Sorry, Mom... I won't do it again, I promise!"

"That's what you said last time you spiked me," Mari pointed out. "You just can't seem to remember that there are Pokemon living here who aren't Poison Type."

"...At least I made it a whole three months this time?" Barry suggested.

"We should probably take it," Mari stated. "Or it'll just start a big argument and he'll be late to work."

Work. Which, for Barry, meant the clinic. For Mari and Madame Roserade, that would be whatever they did at the theater. As for Ace... He had no clue what he would be doing.

"That's right. I need to go supervise the flower gathering at Mount Grace. Mari, feel free to show Ace around town, just remember to pick up groceries. The list is on the counter."

"Sure thing!"

It occurred to Ace that this was the most normal morning he'd had in years. At least, what people in the Blues called normal. But so long as there wasn't a chance of falling off the edge of the world, he'd go with it. The peace was kind of nice, actually.

The only question was how long it would last.

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The peace and quiet lasted about ten minutes after Madame Roserade left. Mari stared as she left.

"I wish I could go too..." She stated. "But Mount Grace is a dangerous Dungeon filled with powerful Pokemon. Powerful Grass-Types, even."

"Dungeon?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, you know. Twisty paths that keep changing, random stuff on the ground, get kicked out if you lose a fight with everything you own vanishing? That kind of Dungeon." Right. He'd just assume that made sense. "Come on, I want to show you everything!" With that, she ran off, and he had no real choice but to follow her.

Well, unless you counted sitting around in an empty theater all day as an option, but he really wanted to get situated so he could start figuring out what to do next.

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"And that's the Kecleon Shop. It swaps out its stock regularly with other stores, all run by the same large family. It's also our last stop for today, so hold still while I buy everything on the list, okay?"

Ace tried to look like he was paying attention. As it was, he was trying to process the information overload that Mari had subjected him to, particularly involving the local businesses.

There was Chimecho Cafe, run by a blue windchime that turned food items brought from Dungeons into delicious meals. The Smeargle Inn, that housed most of the theater's paying customers. Natu's Move Shop, that taught anyone with enough money how to fight. The billboard in the middle of town, where anyone looking for quick cash could do one of the jobs listed. The police station, run by a humanoid being with blades for hands. And the Murkrow Treasury, which stored any valuables that needed to be kept safe.

All of which were scattered throughout the village and were open all day, every day. Privately, Ace wondered when the owners found time to sleep.

And speaking of sleep... Of course he had to have a narcoleptic fit right before Mari bought something that would prevent it.

Really, he didn't know what he was expecting anymore.

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Daichi: We'll probably see all of those other businesses later. Right now, however, the main ones are the clinic and the theater.

Verity: What she doesn't tell you is that she has names picked out for all of those Pokemon already. Which is necessary, because while Hana is addressed by most everyone as Madame Roserade out of respect, as well as the fact that she's the richest Pokemon in town, they generally use their own names amongst themselves.


	4. The First Campaign

Daichi: Plans so far include figuring out character development, finding the right time to introduce the other half of the team, and an interesting lineup of boss fights.

Verity: We don't own anything. Which is good, because she's got that look in her eye again...

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"I hope this doesn't become a thing with you." Ace sighed and bit into a Chesto Berry, immediately feeling any lingering tiredness vanish.

"It's my fault, really," Mari stated. "I'm the one that decided to buy food last." Yora did not seem impressed.

"Something he could have reminded you about, given that it's his sleep schedule they'll be fixing. Young Pokemon just have no sense of responsibility."

"What about me?" Barry asked.

"Did you or did you not mix up the Reviver and Sleep Seeds last week?" All three younger Pokemon suitably lectured, the Blissey turned to her current task of mixing berries and herbs. "Which reminds me, we're running out. Be a dear and fetch some from Bleak Woods, will you?"

Barry turned to Ace and Mari. "This is all your fault." Before turning and leaving.

"You'd think he'd be more excited," Mari commented. Yora sighed.

"You know not all Pokemon love exploring Dungeons as much as you do."

"But why? When you're exploring Dungeons, every day's a new adventure!" Mari turned to Ace. "Don't you agree with me?" Well, when she put it like that... it did sound tempting. Not that he could properly make an informed decision.

"Shouldn't you be asking someone who can actually remember exploring a Dungeon?" He asked. Because while he was pretty sure the forest he'd wandered through yesterday had been one, it wasn't a proper exploration so much as a desperate search for answers. Which he still hadn't gotten, come to think of it.

"... Really? Not even one little trip?" Ace groaned.

"Does the word 'amnesia' mean anything to you?" It might not have been true, but he was going to play out that excuse for as long as he possibly could.

"We should fix that, then! Come on!" Well, it was better than sitting around doing nothing, at least.

"You should probably drop off your things at home, first!" Yora called after them. Mari gave no signs of having heard her, so Ace tapped her shoulder.

"Didn't you say we'd lose all our stuff if we lost a fight?"

"Oh, right! Yeah, it'd be a disaster if we lost this, wouldn't it? We won't even be getting more money until after the play... But once that's done, I'll show you my favorite Dungeon for sure!" He was starting to get a bad feeling about this...

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"So, would now be a good time to mention that I can't swim?" Ace asked, looking at the place where the beach sand dipped into a dark hole. While he thought it might be possible for him to relearn... he was a fire cat. Water was a big no just on principle.

"It's not all in the water," Mari replied. "There's just a few pools here and there. The feral Pokemon inside are really weak, too! Just Magikarp, Feebas, and Luvdisc. It'll be fine!"

"And you're entirely sure about this?" He wasn't opposed to the idea of exploring with a partner, at least at first. He still wasn't entirely sure what his physical capabilities were, and he found he'd rather figure them out with someone else to keep him from getting in over his head. Especially since he still couldn't control his tail very well.

"You shouldn't worry so much," Mari waved his concerns away with a flipper. "Unless... you're scared?"

"Of course not!" Ace bristled at her words. "It's just a tunnel!" Albeit one leading under a beach... possibly beneath the ocean... Of all the times for him to grow a sense of self-preservation.

"What are you waiting for, then?"

It took a whole eight minutes for Ace to realize how she'd played him, and that was when they'd already clambered over several beached fish. Given that the entrance had already vanished behind them, it was just a bit too late to turn back.

He needed to stop rising to people's bait like that. Maybe one day.

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The Dungeon, apparently called the Tunnel to Nowhere, actually wasn't all that long. The sections, which Mari called floors despite the fact that Ace was pretty sure they hadn't changed altitude at all during the journey, were only divided into four instead of the eight that Ace remembered from the Bleak Woods.

The twisted passageways eventually opened into a single large room with nothing in it.

"There wasn't anything interesting today..." Mari sighed. "No odd boxes, no strange cloth... despite being short, a lot of cool things show up here, but not today... Sorry, Ace... I wanted to show you the great things you can find in Dungeons... maybe next time."

"That implies there will be a next time," Ace pointed out. The red and brown fish hadn't been a problem, but the pink heart-shaped ones floated in air and spat water. Water with more percussive force than should have been possible for something so small. He was not okay with this.

"R-Right... I probably should have thought before dragging a Fire Type here with me... come on. Let's head back." With that, Mari pulled out an odd blue orb before throwing it at the ground.

Ace wasn't quite sure how that sent them both back to the beach, but apparently that was a thing.

Mari didn't say anything as she walked back up to the village. Ace followed her, but after a few steps, his paw brushed something that hadn't been there before. A large dark purple feather, almost black, with an odd silver sheen.

He wasn't sure why he picked it up. It was probably the most ominous feather he'd ever seen, and he cursed the fact that he now actually had a candidate for said category. He wasn't even on the Grand Line anymore, as far as he could tell.

Still, it was rather pretty. And, sitting in a locked box in his room, it didn't seem to be doing any harm. So it likely wouldn't be a problem.

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"You were lucky to get out of there, you know."

"Hoopa doesn't need lectures. Hoopa understands."

"What were you even planning to do? She blasts everything that even steps into her Boss Chamber!"

"Hoopa already said he was sorry."

"...You were planning that?! Why would you do that? You know what happened last time he got loose!"

"...Hoopa still has restraining orders."

"Exactly. Now, come on. You've missed a few meetings, so we need to get you caught up..."

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Verity: Speaking of an interesting boss lineup...

Daichi: That will not be the first boss. That would likely end in complete disaster. I wouldn't mind seeing this world crash and burn, but... well... I'd rather it be mainly through pyromania. Or even on accident. Just... it has to be suitably entertaining. The main character getting one-shot is not entertaining.


	5. A New Day

Daichi: And for the cast of moderately important characters that'll be sticking around, we have these lunatics!

Tsukaimon: You know they'd probably do what you wanted more often if you didn't call them lunatics.

Daichi: But where's the fun in that?

Verity: We don't own these things, though we did have a hand in the outcome of this particular funny farm... I am so ashamed of my existence right now.

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The next day, Ace was introduced to everyone else who worked at the theater. Well, not a full introduction so much as Madame Roserade pointing him out and saying he'd be helping from then on, before leaving him with a large number of pink flowers to hang from the rafters, but it was a start.

"Why's he hanging the flowers now?" Mari asked. "I was doing just fine!"

The creature next to her, a small golden bell, groaned. "Do you want another concussion? Or a broken flipper? Or a hole in the floor?"

"That was one time! Come on, Otto, I don't give you grief over that time you were learning Skill Swap for a performance and ended up swapping the wrong Abilities!"

"That was easily fixed and didn't require a trip to Nurse Yora's clinic!" The bell shot back. A vaguely humanoid white creature with red horns shook her head and pirhouetted over to Ace.

"I must apologize for my partners in the arts. They are still young, you see, and unable to understand what is really important in life. I am Emi, special effects and lead dancer. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ace."

Ace nodded, having quickly come to the conclusion that he was far out of his depth here. More than usual, anyway.

"A bit small for an assistant, isn't he?" A large pale pink creature mused, before turning to the blue-and-white bear cub next to him. "What do you think, Kamui? Oh, wait, you're just as tiny."

The surrounding air temperature dropped by several degrees. Ace couldn't remember the last time he'd been so cold, but that was due to having been made of fire more than anything. Cold hadn't really been a factor at that point.

"You know, just because I can't evolve doesn't mean picking on me's a smart idea. Especially since I can use Sheer Cold."

"But can you hit?"

As the bear leapt at the pink thing to try and kill him, Ace started to wonder if he'd even left the Grand Line to begin with. The people here were certainly crazy enough.

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After Mari's Injury of the Day, which was apparently the source of many a betting pool, the uninjured all went to the Chimecho Cafe. No getting out of it, because Emi's telekinetic powers were that strong, and Otto would apparently not stand for anyone refusing his mother's cooking.

Ace didn't really mind, because it was free food, and that was the best thing ever. The windchime- Uta, that was her name- seemed unfazed by Emi's unnaturally formal way of talking, or how Kamui and the pink Pokemon, who he found out was named Hoshi, kept trying to kill each other.

Ace took that as a sign that it happened often, and they were not serious about it. Though, if they ever actually were, he'd bet on Kamui, because even the casual murder attempts froze the air around them. He wondered how much worse it felt to those whose bodies didn't contain a constant source of fire. He decided he was better off not knowing.

"There they go again..." Otto sighed. "You'd think Nurse Yora would get more business from those two... well, that's what Aspear Berries are for, I guess."

"Hoshi and Kamui have been fighting like this since before you were born," Emi pointed out. "If they truly meant to hurt each other, they would have done so long ago. As it is, they are more than capable of controlling themselves. Kamui has not frozen anything he did not want to since I was a Ralts."

"Oh, yeah, the three of you grew up together, didn't you?" The little bell remembered. "That must have been painful."

"Not particularly. As I said, Kamui gained control rather quickly, and Hoshi has never had the predisposition for Metronome that other Clefable do. Right now, I would worry more about our resident Fire Type, as he has not yet had the chance to get used to their little squabbles, and the temperature changes that come with them."

"It's fine." Ace waved off her concerns in between bites. "I mean, I have my fire, and that keeps me warm pretty well. It shouldn't be a problem."

He could tell that Emi wasn't entirely convinced, which implied prior incidents. Hopefully, that wouldn't be an issue.

But he knew better than to expect it. He wasn't that lucky.

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Some distance away from Kaigara Village, a small blue lion cub was running along the bottom of a ravine. It was a Mystery Dungeon, so he didn't pay much attention to his surroundings beyond whether or not he could continue.

He checked the contents of the ragged bag hanging on his shoulder. One Luminous Orb, two Stun Seeds, a Heal Seed, and a Sleep Seed. Nothing that would help, especially if another Stunfisk showed up. He hated Stunfisk. While his powers prevented paralysis, he also couldn't do anything to them.

Just his luck that the Dungeon he'd fled to was full of them. Fortunately, the next Pokemon he encountered was not a Stunfisk. Rather, it was one of the Kecleon that decided the shifting Dungeon pathways was a good place to set up shop. Generally, anywhere around them was safe, because you did not get to run a successful business in a Mystery Dungeon without being extremely powerful.

Not that the Kecleon was currently operating her business. Rather, she turned around and called to him. "You there! Have you seen a Meowth anywhere around?"

The cub shook his head, because he really hadn't seen anything but the normal Stunfisk, Cacnea, Starly, and Geodude. She sighed.

"That damn cat... Didn't even notice he was there until he'd already made off with my entire stock. You be careful, won't you? He might still be around."

"I will." And not just for the given reason, either.

It would be a few weeks yet until he could reach civilization, continuing as he was. He just hoped he could last that long.

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Verity: Sanity is not this world's strong point, is it? Of course, that also changes practically nothing...

Daichi: I see you've found my point. Just wait until the day they decide to throw out subtlety. That'll be a blast.

Tsukaimon: How literally are you talking here? ...Don't answer that. Please. Do not answer that question.


End file.
